Missouri Ag Connection - Merck Animal Health, AVMF Announce Student Innovators

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Merck Animal Health, AVMF Announce Student Innovators
Missouri Ag Connection - 06/24/2018

Merck Animal Health, in partnership with the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF), announced the winners of the 2018 Veterinary Student Innovation Awards.

This new award is designed to recognize graduating seniors at each veterinary school accredited through the American Veterinary Medical Association in the U.S. and Canada. Awards were given to students in good academic standing and have demonstrated innovation, entrepreneurship and creative forward-thinking in the development of a project or product that inspires others within the veterinary profession.

"At Merck Animal Health, we believe in the science of healthier animals," said Merck Animal Health Vice-President of North America Scott Bormann. "Part of what drives that science is the identification of new challenges and the development of initiatives to address them in our ever-changing industry. We're excited to partner with the AVMF to support these inspiring students."

"We are pleased to recognize and support these outstanding veterinary students," said Dr. Jan K. Strother, chair, AVMF Board of Directors. "Not only have these students displayed entrepreneurial spirit, initiative and creativity, but they are also making a positive difference in their communities and in our veterinary profession."

Award recipients include Wendy Evans at the University of Missouri.

Examples of some of the outstanding projects developed by award recipients include:

- Vets for Vets, a program that benefits the community and animal health by providing rehabilitation care for retired military dogs and police dogs.

- The VOICE (Veterinary Students as One in Culture and Ethnicity) program, which is designed to introduce underrepresented minority high school students to various aspects of the Health Sciences through hands on activities and interactions with current health science students.

- Development of a surgical assist device to make equine colon evacuation more efficient and complete. The student's goal is to create a device that could be commercially developed and made available to all veterinarians.

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